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Edmonton Ski Club Master Plan

The 105 year old Edmonton Ski Club submits Master Development Plan to the City of Edmonton

Learn about the proposed all-season, multipurpose outdoor recreational complex at the Edmonton Ski Club Annual General Meeting on Monday, May 25th, 2015.

May 20, 2015: The Edmonton Ski Club, a landmark ski area in the heart of Edmonton’s downtown river valley, has big plans for their facility. A Master Development Plan was submitted to the City of Edmonton last week that will completely transform the grounds into a multi-purpose year-round recreational, cultural and fitness complex.

The Edmonton Ski Club hopes to capitalize on the Valley Line LRT expansion that will include a stop in the Cloverdale neighbourhood.

“With the expansion of the LRT the Edmonton Ski Club will become the first and only ski area accessible by light rail in North America. That will make this new state-of-the-art recreational facility completely accessible to all Edmontonians and visitors to the area,” said Ken Saunders, President of the Edmonton Ski Club.

The media is invited to the Annual General Meeting to learn more about the Master Development Plan. The AGM will take place on Monday, May 25th at 7:00 PM at the Edmonton Ski Club: 9613 96 Avenue NW, Edmonton.

The new year-round facility will also include a mountain bike park, challenge course, improved grounds for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and other events, a fitness centre, rental and retail store.

“The new facility will be able to bring even more new people to winter sports, going in line with the City’s Winter City Strategy. It will also increase employment opportunities year-round and become a recreational hot-spot for the local community as well as tourists. It's time to start showing off this gem in the heart of Edmonton’s river valley.”

The Edmonton Ski Club has been a facility for ski instruction and athlete training since 1911.* Open to the public, the ESC offers ski runs for all levels, a challenging terrain park, ski and snowboard lessons for children and adults, kids day camps, school programming, and group rental opportunities for the community. For more information on the New ESC, visit www.edmontonskiclub.com.

"Imagine the winter recreation possibilities:
A winter’s day in the life of a rejuvenated and expanded Edmonton Ski Club, easily accessible via Edmonton transit, by car or by foot includes:

New two-storey Lodge, an architectural gem complementing the iconic beauty of the Conservatory, featuring several outdoor plaza’s, cafe, rental and retail shop, lockers, change rooms and exercise facilities.
Celebration Park and its installations highlighting the rich history of the Club.
Recontoured slopes offering higher elevation, steeper pitches and longer runs.
Mogul hill and terrain park
Carpet lift, two surface lists and one chair lift.
Alpine climbing wall built to resemble and commemorate the original ski jump.
Kilometres of groomed classic and skate ski trails winding through the Club property and beyond, linking to trails leading up the Mill Creek Ravine or along the banks of the North Saskatchewan.
Skating pond and ice trail leading to the Cloverdale Community League playground and outdoor hockey rink.
Learn to ski and snowboard programs for tots, kids, teens and adults of all abilities.
Tube park and toboggan hills"

"The newly revamped Edmonton Ski Club will include:

All terrain skills park for mountain bikers
Zipline, challenge course an aerial park
Launching pad for hang gliders and hot air balloons
Improved grounds with amphitheater for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and other events
New lodge that offers a full restaurant cafe, exercise equipment, change rooms, showers, lockers, equipment rental and retail store."

1.Seems like an excellent time/chance to restore Mill Creek alongside this project. Did the original Creek run through this area? Perhaps the plan/vision could include that too, two birds one stone.

2. They were touting on the news that they would be the only ski hill with LRT access in North America, yet they are adding a lot of parking. Way more understandable if there was to be no LRT station there, but there is. I understand the constraints with bringing ski equip etc... on the train, but surely the parking could be better incorporated into the proposed Day Lodge. An underground parkade beneath the building? They could also cut and cover the parking beneath the greenery - but i imagine those are surface lots.
I happen to really like that swath of green space below the peace dove structure, the proposed plan has most of it as parking.

Great news. I agree that the balance between parking vs LRT access could be revisited. Also from the image it appears that pedestrian access to the site from the LRT would involve walking past an expanse of parking lot. Perhaps the sense of arrival / ease of access for non-drivers could be improved.

^^The ski club's existing parking is adequate for their current operations, maybe a little tight. The Mutart parking lot isn't too busy when there's no corpse flower blooming or special even going on, so there's lots of room to share there.

From what I've seen at the ski club, a large percentage of the people skiing there on any given day are members who are there a lot. If members could access ski lockers there might e a lot who no longer need to drive every time.

This will need parking. It's pure fantasy to think they can build that much new stuff and expect anyone to visit if there's no parking. The beauty part is, if we get to that point in the future, parking lots can be removed.

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction" - Blaise Pascal

underground parking? You might think the ski club is made out of money.

And yes, JayBee, Just because you don't drive, and have no desire to doesn't mean the rest of us are going to jump on an LRT with skis and ski gear to head to this, (same with bike and the velodrome)

Re: velodrome (I presume you're referring to Northlands Coliseum repurposing) Northlands has the second largest parking lot in the region, isn't going anywhere, and I've touted it as an advantage both in repurposing the shell and in Northlands' finances.

Please try reading what I'm actually writing instead of jousting at windmills. Your imagination is getting the best of your reflexes.

It was "replaced" by the new quad Paradise chair, but was never taken down. They just don't run it anymore. The old triple Paradise is what was put at the bottom to replace the t-bar.
I had heard from two different people that they had to leave it up for Parks Canada/leasehold reasons, that's the only reason I am curious.

The Caribou chair is still there although it has not run in years. They did take the chairs and cable down last summer but the towers are still there. I'm not sure what the plan is this summer although if they are donating it to the Edmonton Ski Club it would make sense to start removing the towers this summer. I get the impression they've spreading the removal cost out over several years.

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong"

The Caribou chair is still there although it has not run in years. They did take the chairs and cable down last summer but the towers are still there. I'm not sure what the plan is this summer although if they are donating it to the Edmonton Ski Club it would make sense to start removing the towers this summer. I get the impression they've spreading the removal cost out over several years.

Its just a bit annoying if the plan all along was to remove the towers, because they could have done it at the same time as the new Paradise chair went up. The new Paradise was supposed to duplicate the service of both the old Paradise and the Caribou but it missed a key thing, its not accesible from the top parking lots, which was awesome. I assumed they modified the base/routing because the Caribou chair had to stay up a while, if it is coming down after a few years, it is just a bit annoying.
Anyway, not really the appropriate thread for that. If Marmot cant make good use of the old-double, it is a nice gesture to donate it to the ESC.

The Caribou chair is still there although it has not run in years. They did take the chairs and cable down last summer but the towers are still there. I'm not sure what the plan is this summer although if they are donating it to the Edmonton Ski Club it would make sense to start removing the towers this summer. I get the impression they've spreading the removal cost out over several years.

Its just a bit annoying if the plan all along was to remove the towers, because they could have done it at the same time as the new Paradise chair went up. The new Paradise was supposed to duplicate the service of both the old Paradise and the Caribou but it missed a key thing, its not accesible from the top parking lots, which was awesome. I assumed they modified the base/routing because the Caribou chair had to stay up a while, if it is coming down after a few years, it is just a bit annoying.
Anyway, not really the appropriate thread for that. If Marmot cant make good use of the old-double, it is a nice gesture to donate it to the ESC.

Parks Canada wouldn't allow them to put the base of the Paradise at the parking lots. The lease has a hard limit on how much lift capacity they can have from the base and a third high-speed quad would have exceeded it. It was never intended for the Caribou to run again at Marmot.

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong"

They could be profitable if they had the funds to alter the hill. It needs to be year-round with downhill bike, and it needs a terrain park in winter. It's not big enough for any regular ski/boarders to want to go, so it needs to work as a beginner, tourist, and niche facility. All my opinion of course.

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction" - Blaise Pascal

It sounds like the issue right now is they can't make the changes they need until council approves the development plans for the whole area, thus the request for emergency funds. I'm pleased the City choose to help them out since the delay is the City's.

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong"

Fantastic concept. I hope they can execute on everything. Hopefully the new lodge will be big enough and designed to host events such as weddings - it would be a pretty ideal spot for that, and another way to make it year round. Snow valley does this successfully.

We'll be 2 LRT stops away, so it'll be real convenient when the kids are old enough to be learning to ski.

Not sure that a downhill mountain bike course would be a good fit there. Don't get me wrong, I was at Whistler three times this summer to DH. But there's obviously nothing at the ski club that would be "tech", and building flow trails requires large berming etc that would pretty significantly impact the ski runs in the winter. And it's not like there's a huge amount of area or elevation to play with. Not to mention that it's a pretty tough business. I'd be willing to bet that the only place that makes any significant money off DH bike passes is Whistler, and maybe, just maybe, Silverstar. Most of the other resorts that have it are doing it to justify their infrastructure for more than 4 months of the year, and would be turning their chairs anyways for weddings, hiking, and the like. Places like Fernie, Panorama, and Kicking Horse might be lucky to sell a hundred or two bike lift passes a day even on busy weekends, and for a fraction of the cost of a winter lift ticket.